Top 10 – Italians to play in the English Premier League
10 – Gianluca Festa
As one of the very first Italians to play in the Premier League, Gianluca Festa came with a fearsome reputation. As tough in the tackle as he was dominant in the air, he was loved by fans of Middlesborough.
He moved to the North East from Internazionale in 1997 and immediately established himself at the heart of the Middlesborough defence. He cemented his place in the hearts of the fans by staying at the club despite their relegation at the end of his first season. He enjoyed many highs at the club including appearances in the 1997 League & FA Cup finals and promotion back to the Premiership in 1998.
Festa was awarded the club’s Player of the Year award in 1998. He left Boro for Portsmouth in 2002 after being frozen out of the first team by England Internationals Gareth Southgate & Ugo Ehiogu. He spent only one season at Pompey but during that season they went on to win the Championship and gain promotion to the Premier League.
Gianluca returned to Italy in 2003 to play for Caligari. He will be fondly remembered in England, especially on Teeside.
9 – Carlo Cudicini
Being the son of an illustrious and celebrated goalkeeper brings with it opportunities and expectations. Many footballers have fallen by the wayside after being compared to their famous father, too many to mention here, but Carlo Cudicini can be classed as an honourable exception.
The son of the former AC Milan & Roma keeper, Fabio Cudicini, has established himself as a goalkeeper of genuine class and quality. Although he has a few years left, were it not for injuries, he could well have surpassed his father’s achievements.
Carlo began his career at Milan but failed to make any first team appearances and for the next six years he spent making a few appearances here and there for a number of Italian clubs. His big move came in 1999 when he signed for Chelsea, eventually forcing out Ed De Goey with a string of excellent performances.
He was Chelsea’s Player of the Year in 2002 and the Premier League’s best keeper in 2003. Unfortunately injuries that had previously plagued him in Italy resurfaced and he missed the majority of the 2003-04 season. The following season saw the arrival of Jose Mourinho and, more importantly, Petr Cech.1
Cech’s performances made him No.1 and Carlo was relegated to the position of back-up. This stayed the case until October 2006 when Cech suffered a fractured skull. Cudicini made the most of his opportunity and enjoyed the battle to be temporary first choice with then third choice keeper Hilario. Cech, however, came back sooner than many had expected and he quickly kicked them both to the bench and regained his starting place.
The bench warming at Stamford Bridge continued until January 2009 when, fed up of the splinters in his backside, signed for Tottenham Hotspur. He made a few appearances initially but then history repeated itself and he lost his place to Heureleo Gomes.
In late 2009 Cudicini was involved in a motorcycle accident that left him with career threatening injuries. He bounced back to recover from those injuries and is currently second choice behind Gomes at White Hart Lane.
Despite a career of mainly missed opportunities and setbacks he deserves his place for his reliability and great performances for Chelsea when selected.
8 – Francesco Baiano
As one part of the famous Ba-Ba’s alongside Serie A legend Gabriel Batistuta, Franceso certainly came to the Premier League with a great reputation and although he would not hit those same heights in England he certainly left his mark.
After successful spells with Foggia and Fiorentina he made the move to newly promoted Derby County alongside fellow Italian Stefano Eranio, with whom he forged an almost telepathic link. In 2 years he thrilled the Derby supporters with his skills and 19 goals in 75 appearances and was named their Player of the Year in 1998.
Once he left England his career somewhat slowed down as he ended up back in the lower leagues in Italy but few fans would witnessed him play for The Rams will have anything but special memories.
7 – Benito Carbone
It’s fair to say that Italian forward Benito Carbone liked to move about a bit. Not for him the Maldini-esque one-club lifestyle. He preferred to share his talent with as many clubs as possible, 17 in all.
After playing for 7 clubs in Italy he went for a change of scenery and ended up in the steel city of Sheffield in 1996. Sheffield Wednesday signed him for £3 million. It was here that Carbone enjoyed his best spell in England as he scored 25 goals in 96 league appearances for The Owls and in 1998-99 was voted the fans favourite player. His spectacular goals and individual style made him a cult hero at Hillsborough.
In 1999 Aston Villa came calling, once it was revealed that a contract dispute has occurred between the player and the club, and he signed for an undisclosed fee. He spent only one season at Villa with the highlight being an appearance in the 2000 FA Cup Final, where they lost 1-0 to Chelsea.
Premiership new boys Bradford City, desperately in need of someone of Carbone’s skill to help them survive a tough first season, signed him on a free and despite disputes over wages he endeared himself to the Valley parade supporters by scoring goals, with his now trademark, long range strikes.
He played for other clubs in England including Derby County and Middlesbrough but it will be in the blue half of Sheffield where is most fondly remembered.
He has since played for Wednesday & Aston Villa in the Football Masters tournaments, even winning Player of the Tournament in 2009.
6 – Fabrizio Ravanelli
Never in the history of the Premier League has a player made such an immediate impact as Fabrizio Ravanelli did at Middlesborough.
“The White Feather”, as he was known, came to England via after successful 4 year spell at Juventus, where he won the Seria, Coppa Italia and Champions League. Boro boss Bryan Robson was clearly impressed with the Italian international and shelled out a then club record of £7million to secure his services.
The money seemed well spent on his debut on the opening day of the 1996-97 season against Liverpool when he scored a hat-trick. The good times seemed to be heading towards Teeside and although they reached the final of FA & League Cup, losing to Chelsea and Leicester City respectively, in that season they also suffered relegation. 17 league goals from the hitman, along with marquee signings like Juninho, was not enough to keep them afloat.
He left Middlesbrough after only one season but returned to the Premier League four years later for a stint at Derby County. He scored 14 goals for the East Midlands outfit but was unable to save them from the same fate as Middlesbrough.
Although his 2 seasons in the Premier League have ended in relegation he is still a well loved figure at the two clubs. Recently he expressed a desire to be at Middlesbrough again, but this time as manager. 31 goals in 84 appearances for struggling clubs showed his ability to find the net and added with his ‘shirt over the head’ celebrations has secured him a place in Premiership folklore.
5 – Stefano Eranio
“Na Na Na Na, Na Na Na Na,
Hey, Hey, Hey,
Eranio-o”
The Derby County fans may not be known for their music taste, seeing as the Eranio chant is sung along to the tune of dodgy 80’s pop trio Bananarama’s Goodbye, but they certainly know a good player when they see one.
Former Italian international winger Stefano has been voted one of Derby County’s 11 greatest footballers ever. Whilst he may have preferred to be one of Genoa or AC Milan’s greatest ever players, the two clubs he played for before joining The Rams, he will certainly take great pride in being remembered so fondly in the East Midlands.
After beginning his career with his hometown club, Genoa, for whom he made over 200 league appearances between 1984 and 1992, he signed for AC Milan where he won a host of medals as the Rossoneri dominated Serie A. He spent five wonderful years at Milan before signed for Derby on a free transfer.
He was an immediate success and enjoyed four seasons with The Rams. One of the main highlights was when he scored the first ever goal in their new stadium, Pride Park, against Barnsley in 1997.
He suffered a broken leg in 1999 which interrupted his career but he showed great resolve and spirit to come back into the side.
He had built up a great relationship with the manager Jim Smith and when he was thinking of retiring in 2000 he was persuaded by the boss to carry on which he did until Smith was fired in October of that year. Taking this as his queue to leave he went back to Italy to play in Serie C for Pro Sesto.
He has been inducted as a Derby Legend alongside former great Ted McMinn and is still a hugely popular figure with his name still being sung by the fans on a regular basis. He is remembered as a stylish player with a wonderful touch, incisive passing and also his ability to find the net.
4 – Roberto Di Matteo
Born in Switzerland to Italian parents the young Roberto was destined to be a footballer. From his early playing days in the Swiss league to his move to Lazio in 1993 he always displayed the all of the attributes required to become a top professional.
His time at Lazio brought him international recognition and a reputation as a tenacious, ball passing, driving force of a midfielder, who could shoot, and more importantly score, from distance. He fell out with then Lazio coach Zedenek Zeman over a defensive error committed against Internazionale, which resulted in then Chelsea boss Ruud Gullit spending £4.9 million to bring him to Stamford Bridge.
It was soon to become apparent that Lazio’s loss was very much Chelsea’s gain. Di Matteo stamped his quality all over the Stamford Bridge pitch from his opening game, in which he scored against Middlesbrough. He continued to impress fans of all clubs and often featured on the scoresheet, 9 times in all in that first season, including a couple of long range specialities.
His partnerships with Dennis Wise and Gus Poyet brought the best out in each of them and that was to Chelsea’s benefit. He notched up medals at a fantastic rate, winning the League Cup, Cup Winner’s Cup and FA Cup. The League title was one medal that eluded him but he is considered one of the key figures in Chelsea’s climb from Top 10 side to their current status as constant title challengers.
He spent six years with the Blues during which time he scored 26 goals, the majority of which turned out to be crucial, in 175 appearances and was granted a place in the club’s Greatest XI as voted for by the fans. He ended his career at Chelsea after suffering a triple leg fracture in 2000, eventually giving up hope of playing again in 2002.
3 – Gianluca Vialli
Vialli made his name at Sampdoria, his reputation at Juventus and his hero status at Chelsea. As one half of the celebrated Goal Twins, the other being current Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini, Vialli he was part of a Sampdoria team in their most successful era , winning the Serie A title, three Coppa Italia’s and one UEFA Cup Winners Cup, where he scored both goals in the final to beat Anderlecht.
Despite the unparalleled success at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris he spread his wings and flew to Turin and the mighty Juventus. He cost La Vecchia Signora £12.5 million, which was then a world record fee. The trophies and goals continued to flow for Cremona born striker and he added to his already bulging collection with a Champions League Winners medal, another Scudetto and for good measure another Coppa Italia crown.
Captaining Juve to their first of their three Champions League title in 1996 proved to be his final act in the Black & White stripes. Speculation had mounted that summer about what Vialli would do next and the anticipation was soon ended when he decided to join the Chelsea revelation under new boss Ruud Gullit.
No stranger to titles and medals himself, Gullit had begun to turn his side from a team of also-rans and occasional trophy winners into genuine title contenders and he saw Vialli’s experience as a key part to help him achieve this.
Vialli scored 21 league goals in 58 games for the Blues, although the initial honeymoon period with Gullit was soon over and he was regularly left out of the starting line-up. However, it wasn’t long before Gullit regime came to an end in February 1998 and he was sacked, despite the club being in second place in the league.
Vialli took over the reigns as player-manager and finished what Gullit had started by winning the European Cup Winners Cup and the Coca Cola Cup and in doing so being the youngest ever manager to win a UEFA competition, that record has since gone to FC Porto boss Andre Villas-Boas.
The following season brought the European Super Cup to the Stamford Bridge trophy cabinet and Chelsea’s highest top flight finish in over 25 years as they finished in third place and thereby qualifying for the Champions League. He finished his playing career that season and finished with a total of 40 goals in 83 appearances.
Overall, Vialli managed Chelsea to five trophies in 3 years and his goal ratio alone would have guaranteed him legend status his management skills and ability to get the best out of his players has cemented his place in the hearts of all Chelsea supporters.
2 – Paolo Di Canio
Everyone loves a volatile, temperamental genius and they didn’t come any more volatile and temperamental than Paolo Di Canio. However, to concentrate on his perceived lack of control and emotional outbursts would be to do one of the Premier League’s greatest foreign imports a great disservice.
Born in Rome, he signed for his boyhood heroes Lazio in 1985 and stayed there for the first five years of his career, with a short spell at Ternana on loan sandwiched in between. He signed for Juventus in 1990 and stayed for three years, but was unable to consistently force his way into the first team. He made 58 league appearances in all, scoring 6 goals, and was sold to Napoli, and then AC Milan in quick succession. His time in his homeland appeared to be one of immense talent waiting to burst but it never really happened for him despite the list of impressive clubs he played for.
A move to Glasgow Celtic resurrected his career and got him a move to the Premiership in 1997 with Sheffield Wednesday in the destination. He finished the season as top scorer for The Owls with 14 goals and quickly won over the fans and media alike with his terrific performances and sublime skills.
The following season started badly for the Italian as he would go down in English football history for an incident known as The Push. Whilst pushing someone would not normally cause much of a drama, Di Canio chose the wrong person to shove. Instead of an opposing player or even a teammate being on the receiving end, he chose referee Paul Alcock, in a home game against Arsenal. Whilst Di Canio provided the anger and frustration, Alcock provided the comedy with an exaggerated and staggered fall backwards from nothing more than a gentle push. The FA, however, failed to see the funny side and hit Di Canio with an 11 game ban and £10,000 fine.
Still smarting from this perceived injustice, and lack of support from those in power at Hillsborough, the following January he signed for West Ham for £1.7 million. He helped them finish in a very decent fifth place. Of all the places, apart from his hometown team, he is best loved it is at Upton Park. This is where he produced his finest football and finally exploited his talent to the full. He was regularly voted in the majority of the end of season ‘best of ‘categories.
His most memorable goal came against Wimbledon in March 2000 and to date it is still classed as one of the best goals ever seen in the Premiership. It was voted goal of the decade by Sky Sports viewers in 2009. It was a volley of pure beauty as he switched feet mid-air and clipped the ball into the Wimbledon net….the beautiful game indeed.
He was also responsible for a great act of sportsmanship as he caught a cross from the right hand side instead of heading into the goal as Everton keeper Paul Gerrard lay stricken on the ground.
All of these factors contributed to the overall legend of Paolo Di Canio. He played for West Ham until 2003 and then moved to Charlton Athletic for a brief spell before returning home to his beloved Lazio.
His record of 75 goals in 190 league appearances serves as a testimony to the great player he was, but it’s merely statistics next to how the fans felt about him.
Di Canio is now back in England as manager of League Two side Swindon Town. A whole new world of English football awaits Di Canio and it will be interesting to see how he deals with players less talented than himself.
His political leanings to the Right Wing have caused controversy, none more so than his ‘facist’ salute for Lazio against hated rivals Roma, but one thing is for sure, as long as football is talked about and watched, people will always talk about and watch Paolo Di Canio.
1 – Gianfranco Zola
For all of the great Italians to have played in the Premiership one player truly stands out as head and shoulders above the rest, not bad for a man of 5 feet 7 inches.
Gianfranco Zola first came to prominence when he signed for Napoli and became the understudy to the legendary Diego Maradona. Zola ended up playing more than he might have expected in the first year of his arrival, mainly due to El Pibe de Oro’s increasingly out of control behaviour off the pitch which saw him frequently clash with President Corrado Ferlaino. Despite his problems Maradona would spend hours mentoring Zola in the art of free-kicks, time well spent as his later career would prove.
Zola was part of the Napoli team that won the Supercoppa Italiana in 1991, a year in which he also made his international debut against Norway. He stayed at the San Paolo until 1993 when Parma made a move for him. He enjoyed more success with i Crociati as he helped win the UEFA Cup and Coppa Italia. They also finished second in the league. Zola flourished in the countryside surroundings of Parma.
Unfortunately for Zola, and fortunately for Chelsea, Parma boss Nevio Scala, the man who had given Zola the license to thrill, left and was replaced by the rigid Carlo Ancelotti. Despite trying to make it work, the diminutive striker was regularly played out of position by Ancelotti and a parting of the ways was inevitable. In 1996 he signed for Chelsea.
From the beautiful scenery of the Emilia-Romagna region to the hustle and bustle of West London. The surrounding could not be more different, however, Zola settled in as if he’d been there all his life. The location may have been different but the quality, performances and goals remained the same. He ended his first season in England by winning the FA Cup and being voted the Football Writers Association’s Player of the Year. Zola had found his home away from home.
The following season brought with it even more riches as he added the League Cup, Cup Winner’s Cup and Supercup to his medal collection. Due to an injury he was named as a substitute for the final, against VFB Stuggart, and he came on in the second half. It took him only 21 seconds to make his mark as he scored with only his second touch. Such occasions bring out the very best in the very best players and Zola was certainly one of those.
In the 1999-2000 season he fell victim to fellow Italian Gianluca Vialli’s rotation policy and found his league appearances more limited than in previous years. As time wore on and Chelsea’s management changed he kept up his high level of performance and continued to score goals and form good partnerships with whoever he was paired with. The likes of Eidur Gudjohnsen and Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink both saw there goal average rocket and benefitted tremendously from the playing with Zola.
As adept at creating chances for others as taking them himself, he was a fan favourite like no other seen at Stamford Bridge. So much so, that he was recently voted their greatest ever player by the supporters.
His career with Chelsea ended in 2003 and he moved back to Italy. In all he scored 80 goals in 309 games for the club but, as with all players of his nature, that statistic barely begins to describe his talent or influence on the team.
He was given an OBE in 2004 for his services to the game and there would not be a single person who would have denied him that honour. Also, despite his shirt number not being officially retired by Chelsea, no player has worn the famous No.25 since his departure. I doubt any player would be brave enough to try.
